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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27497740">Flying Solo</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrijverr/pseuds/schrijverr'>schrijverr</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ballet, Dancing, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Reggie can dance Ballet, Reggie-centric (Julie and The Phantoms), reggies shit parents are mentioned, so watch out</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 02:26:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,048</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27497740</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrijverr/pseuds/schrijverr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Reggie can dance ballet, he learned from his mother and does it whenever he’s feeling low. The band catches him and it turns into a bonding moment.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms) &amp; Everyone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>193</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flying Solo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>You can also find this work on my tumblr, which is @schrijverr as well. Hope you pop in and say hi, cause I'd love to talk to y'all!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alex and Luke had been friends since they were very little and had befriended Bobby in Middle School, only meeting Reggie in High School after he had moved to LA from NYC. He had easily fit in to their little group, but they did not know Reggie as well as each other.</p><p>Not that Reggie minded, he was a pretty private person. He didn’t like sharing things about himself and had become a pro in talking without ever saying something.</p><p>He did not like talking about his home and his parents, so he avoided those topics and made sure to always have an excuse ready about why they couldn't go to his home and he put on an act (partly) of being a dumbass to discourage deeper conversations.</p><p>It had even taken the other three a while before they figured out where he was from, only finding out when he had rolled his eyes at the depiction of the Big Apple in a movie.</p><p>Reggie liked his new friends though. They let him stay on their couches when the fighting got bad and never pitied him for the bruises.</p><p>They were his family.</p><p>However, he did not share everything with them, even after they’d gotten close enough to be brothers. Like the fact that his mother had been a professional ballerina, who was still angry she had to give up her studio for his fathers job, nor the fact that he had spend most of his youth there as well and knew how to dance ballet.</p><p>He knew they wouldn't judge him for it or think he was girly or weird, he had seen that with Alex. But still, it was his little thing.</p><p>The thing he did when he was down, his small comfort that reminded him of better times when glasses remained whole and his mother still smiled.</p><p>Ballet was how he had gotten into music, first learning to play pieces on the piano, later violin, then banjo and guitar, which lead to the true love that was his bass. His mother had always been a music person, his dad too. That used to connect them.</p><p>So he kept it to himself, only doing small pirouettes and some stretching in his room or old routines on the beach late at night under the stars to the beat of the fighting floating from the house.</p><p>But then they died and nothing was the same anymore. His home was a bike shack, his parents were gone and he was a ghost that could only be seen when they sung with a specific girl. The only good thing was that he would keep his flexibility for all of eternity.</p><p>Well, that might be a bit dramatic. Julie was super nice, he still had his friend and their music, and Ray was everything he had ever wanted in a dad, even if the man couldn't see him.</p><p>It was just that it hurt sometimes.</p><p>It hurt that he would never be able to socialize again, that they never had the breakthrough they had worked so hard for, that their music had been stolen by someone they trusted, that the only good father figure he’d ever known only tolerated him because he was invisible, that his friends were finding other people and he was being left behind.</p><p>Life, well, death, just fucking sucked and Reggie hated it. Not always, just some days when the loneliness crept up on him and he had no one to turn to. </p><p>So he returned to the thing that had kept him going for most of his life, before he had his band, his new family.</p><p>Ballet.</p><p>First he went to the beach, like he’d used to, but the bike shack was a bitter reminder of what he had lost and the entire area wasn’t the same anymore. So he returned to the Molina house, which used to be the Willson house.</p><p>Ray sometimes listened to classical music while he worked and, since he couldn't see Reggie, it was the perfect time. </p><p>He started doing his stretches, before he moved on to the basic positions and some other steps. It was nothing fancy, nothing like he’d used to do, but it was calming. Just flying through the space with his eyes closed while memories played on his eyelids.</p><p>His mother beckoning him closer with a smile, the older girls at the studio who had adored him when he was younger, his dad at the piano in the living room, while he either sat next to him or twirled with his mother.</p><p>The good times.</p><p>Soon it became routine to do old ballet routines in the living room while Ray was working and he was sure none of the others would be home or just whenever there was no one at all.</p><p>It was pretty handy that he could phase through objects now and didn’t have to deal with pushing everything to the side, although clothes were still an issue. He had a pair of sweats and a tank-top though, but no shoes, so he had to manage on bare feet.</p><p>But it was nice, it was comforting, which meant it had to go to shit at some point.</p><p>Today had began not that great. Reggie had been awake, like every night, but this time it hadn’t been nice and quiet, just a reminder that he wasn’t alive anymore. He’d gone on a walk, but all the changes were also a reminder and the day had just been doomed from the start.</p><p>First he’d wanted to hang with the guys, but Alex had a date (totally not a date, shut up) with Willie and Luke had heard his parents talking about his cousins and aunt coming, so he was haunting them, leaving Reggie on his own.</p><p>He had searched for Ray, but the man was away on a shoot and Reggie was truly on his own in the house. Nothing that bad, he’d thought as he decided to dance for a bit.</p><p>Quickly poofing over to the garage, he changed into what he had dubbed his dancing clothes, before poofing back and starting up some Tsjaikovski while he did the warming up. He reasoned that if anyone came home, they’d think Ray had left his music on.</p><p>He had started with something easy, but he could do that from muscle memory alone, which wasn’t helping him with getting his mind of things. So the routines had gotten increasingly more difficult throughout the day as he forgot completely about the time.</p><p>Because he was so focused on jumping at the right beats and stepping in time with the music, he didn’t notice the door opening and the small gasp Julie let out as she watched him. Nor did he notice Luke and Alex poofing back into the room next to Julie. </p><p>They had returned to find an empty garage, so they had assumed Reggie would be hanging with Ray, instead they had found Julie staring at something while standing in the doorway.</p><p>With their curiosity piqued they had poofed there and looked to find the usually clumsy bassist flying gracefully through the room. </p><p>After a fast set of pirouettes Reggie stopped, the dance was over. He stood still for a few seconds with his eyes closed as he caught his breath only to get snapped out of it by the sound of applause coming from in front of him.</p><p>He snapped his eyes open and quickly jumped out of the end position as he squeaked: “How long have you been there?”</p><p>“A few minutes.” Julie answered, “But Reggie that was amazing! I didn’t know you could dance like that.”</p><p>“Yeah, me neither, that’s sick, dude!” Luke also had processed what he had just seen.</p><p>“Why didn’t you ever say?” Alex asked.</p><p>“Uh…” Reggie gestured to the air helplessly, before he tried: “Never came up?”</p><p>Lukes eyes narrowed as he spotted Reggie lying, which Julie caught onto as she said: “Sorry, was I not supposed to see that?”</p><p>Reggie rubbed the back of his head as his cheeks started to flush. He said: “I must have forgotten the time, I’m usually gone before anyone sees. Unless you want to count Ray, but he can’t really see me. It’s my own fault.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you tell us?” Luke pouted, “Don’t you trust us?”</p><p>“It’s just something personal. My mother used to have a studio back in New York, we danced together when I was little while my dad played the piano, you know, before they started fighting.” Reggie explained, unable to deny Luke anything when he pouted.</p><p>“Oh.” Luke looked sheepish, “Sorry for pushing, but that was insane, bro.”</p><p>“Thank you!” Reggie grinned.</p><p>“Wait, New York?” Julie asked.</p><p>“We met Reggie in High School, he used to live in New York before they had to move for his dads job.” Alex explained.</p><p>In the background Luke pulled Reggie into a side hug, as he asked: “How can you be so graceful and trip over your own feet while walking, dude?”</p><p>“I do not.” Reggie exclaimed.</p><p>“You once tripped over air, Reginald.” Alex told him with an eyebrow raise.</p><p>Julie now finally closed the door behind her and excitedly asked: “Don’t care how clumsy he usually is, can you show me how you did that?”</p><p>“Did what?” </p><p>“The dancing? Please, I’ve always wanted to try, but by the time I had outgrown my ‘I’m-not-like-the-other-girls’ phase I was too old to get good and get lessons.” Julie said, “Can you teach me the basics?”</p><p>“I mean I could, but I you have to warm up first and I don’t know how flexible you are.” Reggie replied tentatively. Julie cheered, before she raced up the stairs to get changed into better clothes for this, leaving the three boys behind.</p><p>“I’m sorry if I pushed you to share.” Luke said after a few seconds, “I didn’t want to force you to tell us that.”</p><p>“It’s alright, man.” Reggie said, “I mostly have good memories connected with dancing, it’s something I do when I feel lonely.”</p><p>“Do you- do you feel lonely often?” Luke asked with sad eyes, making Reggie realize what he had just admitted.</p><p>Reggie didn’t want to lie to him again or make him feel like a bad friend after all he had done for him, so he just said: “It’s been hard turning into a ghost, you know I love to talk to people.”</p><p>That was not completely false, Reggie had always been the social butterfly of Sunset Curve and the life of the party. Usually talking to twenty people at the same time, none he had known three seconds ago and he did miss that, it just wasn’t the whole story.</p><p>Luke saw through the words and felt guilty about leaving his friend alone when he clearly needed company. Alex seemingly had an answer, though. He carefully asked: “You wouldn't mind me joining either, would you?”</p><p>“No, of course not. You need better moves if you’re gonna keep joining Dirty Candy.” Reggie grinned.</p><p>At that point Julie came barreling down the stairs, catching the tail end of the conversation. She said: “Luke, you have to join now too. It’ll be band-bonding.”</p><p>The other two snorted at the idea of bouncy Luke trying to do strict ballet and Luke paled. It was too late for him, however, Julie was set on it. So a few minutes later they were all wearing dance clothes as they cleared the instruments to make space for Julie in the garage.</p><p>They had done jumping jacks to get the blood pumping and had struggled with touching their toes and keeping them pointed when Reggie moved to the splits.</p><p>“What the fuck, Reg.” Luke exclaimed, hissing in pain as he failed miserably in doing them himself.</p><p>“I’ve been doing this since before I can remember, Luke. Would be a bit strange, if I couldn't do them.” Reggie laughed, it was nice to make some more good memories connected to dancing, now with his new family.</p><p>From where she was struggling with the split herself, Julie huffed: “What else have you been hiding from us, Reggie? More surprises in there?”</p><p>“I mean, I don’t know if I ever mentioned I also play piano and violin?” Reggie replied.</p><p>“WHAT!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know nothing of ballet, but I just want ballerina Reggie after YouTube recommended me Jeremy trying to learn. He failed, so no hopes on this one :/ But the idea is fun!</p><p>Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated, so thank you so much for leaving any if you did! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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